Another good Saturday morning to you from our corner of the world in the Upper Midwest where snow is plentiful. This last week we had some bitterly cold temperatures with wind chills close to 40 below but now we are heading to 40 above in the coming days! Definitely a roller coaster ride. We haven't seen much wildlife but I expect that the deer are sticking close to the woods or coming out at night when we don't see them.
Speaking of wildlife, a couple days ago I heard a story about how cows and bison respond in a storm. Of course it's an analogy for how we deal with life. When there's a storm coming cows turn their back to it and they also try to outrun it. Bison, on the other hand, run towards the storm.... they face it head on and move through it faster. It's a little like life I think..... no, it's a lot like life! There are times we run like heck to try to out distance the storms in our lives and then there are times where we stand firm turn around and face the storm where we are or by moving forward to get through it quicker. Sometimes I'm a cow sometimes I'm a bison. The vision challenges for my future can have me trying to outrun the storm even though I know it will need to be faced eventually. With this challenge I need to turn around and face the storm but...I don't like what I'm seeing. Figuratively and literally ! It's a good time to remember that no matter what lies ahead we are not alone. Jesus gives us examples in the BIble on how to deal with storms! And we certainly all are faced with them.
Moving on, Joel worked on the wooden TV trays that he's building this week and he got the whole house vacuumed. He had the snow blower going and took care of the several inches of snow that we got. I did some baking, cleaning and walked every day. We just finished the Northern Exposure series and are watching quite a few episodes of a show called The Repair Shop on Prime and I believe Acorn but it could be Britbox. Joel has been reading a book on faith by Jimmy Carter and I'm listening to the 5th Father Tim book in that series by Jan Karon. It's February in Iowa and there's not a whole lot going on for these retired over the hill people. Well that's really not true... behind the scenes there is plenty going on but not much to talk about.
For today I'm grateful for the slow pace of February. Grateful for the snow that is much needed for the moisture. Grateful for the story of the Cows versus the Bisons. Grateful for friends and family and phone calls and texts and emails that feel our days. Grateful our kids are doing so well in their own lives in their own corners of the world. Even though we miss them greatly they're doing what they're called to do. Yeah grateful for the wisdom of friends, and mentors, plus the little phrases that God sends our way that resonate and you just know they're from him! Grateful for all this and so much more.
Enjoy your weekend
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